When he went off to Emory & Henry College in the southwestern corner of Virginia, “soul” music was all the rage, and the lessons learned in his high school years helped him put together a blue-eyed soul group with powerful horns and tight vocal harmonies.

Surrounded by string-pickin’ musicians in the southern Appalachians, he learned to play the guitar and the sounds of the then-popular folk movement. He met Pete Seeger and Elizabeth Cotten, who inspired him to begin writing his own songs. He also received formal training as a tenor and sang in the college's touring choir.

Wayne later earned an MFA degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, where he also worked in what was then the only 16-track commercial recording studio in the state. He sang radio jingles, did voiceover work and wrote backup vocal parts for many commercials. He continues to write, perform and produce music and voiceovers for Internet, radio and television commercials.

After finishing his degree work, he began a career as a college theatre professor and actor/singer, performing in and directing a wide variety of musical productions. Wayne taught in the Speech and Theatre department at VCU, in the Music department of Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland and was the director of theatre at Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, the oldest independent Catholic college in America. He was also on the theatre faculty at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities before he left the teaching profession. Throughout those years, he performed and directed professionally when his teaching schedule allowed.

Wayne as Rutledge in 1776

Wayne joined the Minnesota Association of Songwriters (MAS) in 1998. During his first year in MAS, he was awarded twelve "endorsement" songwriting awards by that group, all of which were included on his debut CD. Shortly after releasing that collection, titled Lucky That Way, Wayne founded the local chapter of Just Plain Folks (JPF), an international music networking organization, in 1999. JPF named the Twin Cities Chapter as "Chapter of the Year" and Wayne as "Coordinator of the Year" in its 2000 JPF awards. JPF nominated Lucky That Way as "Best Traditional Folk CD" in 2001; the title cut was also nominated as "Best Traditional Folk Song."

In 2006, Wayne released his second solo CD (titled The Present). His third solo CD, titled You Never Knew, was released in December of 2014. In August of 2015, Wayne partnered with co-writer and guitar wizard Doug Millaway to relase a five-song EP called Smallest Sign. A seven-song collection titled We Know, developed with seven different co-writers, was released in April of 2016. He continues to write songs and jingles while marketing all of his CDs. He also performs regularly in the Twin Cities region's active acoustic-music circuit.

Wayne was a finalist in the New Folk Songwriting Contest at the Minnesota Folk Festival for three years running (1999 - 2001), in the Highway 61 Folk Festival for two years running (2001 - 2002) and in the 2001 UNISONG International Songwriting Contest. More recently, he was a finalist in the Wisconsin Singer-Songwriter Series (WSSS) 2016 songwriting contest, won two awards in Songwriters of Wisconsin's (SOWI) 2014 songwriting contest and was a finalist in the songwriting competition at the 2014 Great River Folk Festival. In addition, the Amsterdam, Holland office of TBWA ad agency used his song titled "Lucky That Way" in a 2005 commercial for Holland Casinos for a year on television stations throughout the Netherlands. He is working on other film and TV placements for vocal and instrumental versions of his songs. CATV stations in Metro Minnesota and seven other states are airing Wayne's music videos, including a Christmas show taped in 2011. In 2017, Wayne and performance partner Doug Millaway, who work together as TWO TONE, won the prestigious Cultural Star Award from the City of St. Paul and the Minnesota Music Coalition!

On Stage at the St. Croix Journey Folk Festival, 2005

Wayne has played in many of the acoustic venues in the Twin Cities area, and has toured to cities like Atlanta, DC, Los Angeles and Dallas. Wayne’s performances give him a chance to try out his original music on the people who come to listen. Most importantly, the songs and the audiences keep Wayne close to the music he loves to play and sing. Wherever there’s a song and people to listen, that’s where you’ll find him.